Perhaps you've seen this Peanuts cartoon: Linus announces to his cranky sister, Lucy that he is going to be a doctor. "You, a doctor?" she asks. "How can you be a doctor? You don't love mankind." Linus replies, "I do too love mankind. It is people I can't stand!" We may smile at that cartoon, but isn't that at times how we feel toward people?

When Paul wrote his hymn of love in I Corinthians 13, he did not give a general treatise on love as an abstract concept such as "love of mankind." Instead, he described how love is demonstrated in specific actions. When we read verses 4 through 8 and verse 13 carefully, we see that Paul was not defining love, but describing it."Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, (5) Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; (6) Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; (7) Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. (8) Charity never faileth… (13) And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity."In this passage he gives us 15 concrete actions. Love must be specific. It is as if Paul said a person who loves is one who is patient with an elderly grandmother, a cranky neighbor, an insensitive boss, an off-key choir member, a troublesome son or daughter, or someone who is mean to him. We must be patient and kind to specific people in our lives. If we keep love in the abstract, we insulate ourselves from its sacrifices and actions.

In Philippians 2:3-4 we read,"Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves. (4) Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others."There is an inscription on a small tombstone in an English village that reads:"Here lies a miser who lived for himself. He cared for nothing but gathering wealth. Now, where he is or how he fares, nobody knows and nobody cares."The root of all evil in human nature is the desire to have one's own say. Self-centeredness is the exact opposite of Agape Love. Agape love is love that seeks the best interest of the one loved. Selfishness seeks the best interest for one's own self, so the two are exactly opposite. It is not possible to have agape love and to have self-seeking or self-interest. Love considers the other person and gets excited about seeing their needs met.

This week as you think of how to demonstrate your love one to another in the family of God, take time to meditate upon this hymn with its beautiful childlike language. IT was written by the noted musician of early gospel music, Philip P. Bliss.

I am so glad that our Father in Heaven tells of His love in the Book He has given;
Wonderful things in the Bible I see, this is the dearest that Jesus loves me.

Tho I forget Him and wander away, still He doth love me wherever I stray;
Back to His dear loving arms would I flee when I remember that Jesus loves me.

O if there's only one song I can sing when in His beauty I see the great King,
This shall my song in eternity be: O what a wonder that Jesus love me!"

This week's SERMON on"How to Love One Another in the Family of God, Part II" taken from I Corinthians 13:1-13 concludes our study on "How to Treat One another in the family of God."

In His Amazing Grace,

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